Dena and Eric Hall named co-chairs of 2009 Noble Ball benefit

WESTFIELD Noble Hospital announces Dena Hall, Noble Board of Trustee emeritus, and her husband, Westfield Police Sgt. Eric Hall, will serve as co-chairs of its 2009 Noble Ball, its major annual fundraising event. This year's Noble Ball will take place on Nov. 7 at the Log Cabin in Holyoke.
Dena is the senior vice president of Marketing and Community Relations for United Bank. She also serves as the president of the United Bank Foundation.
Eric is responsible for the direct supervision of patrolmen in everyday operations. He also is a member of the department's Special Response Team and a Crisis Negotiator.
"Eric and I are long-time Westfield residents who have interacted with Noble Hospital at many different levels as patients, as a board member and as a community liaison," Dena said. "We are pleased to support a community institution that has demonstrated great accomplish-ment in patient care for the people of Westfield and the surrounding area for many years."
This year's theme is an Emergency Dance Off, which will feature a dance competition pitting members of Noble's medical staff against well-known personalities. In addition to the dance off, the event will feature both live and silent auctions, dinner and dancing. Proceeds raised will support renovations to Noble's Emergency Medicine department (EMD).
The current Noble Hospital EMD has been in operation since 1962. It was originally built to accommodate approximately 15,000 patients per year. Since that time, volume has increased over 100 percent. Patients using the EMD come from the Greater Westfield area, as well as surrounding Hilltowns, West Springfield, Springfield and Chicopee. Noble's EMD recorded over 30,000 patients using its services last year. The need to maintain a comfortable physical space is heightened by these factors.
"The Emergency Medicine Department is often referred to as the 'front door' of a medical care facility, and at Noble we believe the surroundings should complement the extraordinary and exemplary care anyone visiting Noble's Emergency Medicine Department will receive," Sarah Tanner, vice president of Philanthropy of Noble Health Systems, said.
For more information, visit www.noblehospital.org.